Just came back from Firebird Raceway, Not a happy camper... Options

[Derek Seymour]

First off I would like to say Thank You to the AZPCA, Mark, and Steve for the excellent DE ground school! Also a HUGE thank you to my instructor Dave R for a wonderful ride in his 914/6, I can only hope to one day have the skill that he has!
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This was the first outing for my Dad and I in his freshly converted 914/6. He has spent gobs of time, energy, and $$$ to change a really well peforming 74 914/4 into what he hopes will be a well performing 914/6. Because it is a 74 he had two ideas in mind with the conversion.
1. Do a 914 LE "tribute" with the paint scheme but go a few extra steps and lighten it up with a fiberglass hood and decklid. GT fenders are sitting in the garage and will be the next step.

2. If Porsche had made the LE in the 6 configuration then it probably would have been a 2.7... so that is what is now in the engine bay.

That's where the fun just stopped... literally.

The motor had so much blow by that it vomited about 1.5 quarts into the catch can after 2 laps. We also probably filled the oil tank up a little high so we drained about 4 quarts out to hit the 10-12 quart mark. With some excellent advice from James Patrick we re-routed the hose for the catch can so exces oil wouldn't pool in the line and then vomit launch itself into the can when you hit the power.

Trial number 2 lasted 3 laps, all seemed well so my Dad headed pack to the pits to check everything out and make sure we were good to go... the motor then died turning on to pit row... and wouldn't re-fire. So it was pushed back to the pits. I cam eback in from my awesome shotgun seat ride in Dave's 6 to check on progress. The look on my Dad's face said it all... done for the day. I checked the catch can to see if at least that had been solved... full to the brim... oil was all over the engine bay since he catch can was probably full after lap 2.

Now this is a freshly built motor... so my Dad made sure not to go over 5K on the tach. A little blow by is to be expected with a new motor because the rings have yet to fully seat, but 3-4 quarts in less than 5 miles? Seems suspect to me.

So here is the kicker...
This is an engine from Motor Meister!!!!!

I had heard/read the bad reports but I have also heard just the opposite. So when my Dad mentioned he was going to get a turn key form Motor Meister I thought to myself "Well... don't be negative, there are "good" stories out there about Motor Meister, so be positive and maybe this will be one of those experiences."

Now I am wondering if I should have offered to kick in some $$$ to go to another builder. I probably would not have had the $$$ to buy my 76 914 that I just got if I had... but then I also would have had piece of mind... and I would have actually driven the car today and planned for future events. Now... I don't know what the future holds (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

Maybe the rings will seat... maybe they won't. Might not be the rings at all. Maybe the damn thing will blow up next time. Hell we haven't even tried starting it again so it might be shot now.

My Dad is going to follow up with Motor Meister...

I'll update this as things progress... or regress (IMG:style_emoticons/default/stromberg.gif)